New York, July 6, 1863.
I thank you, my dear sir, for your information concerning
the paper in the “Law Register.” I wish people would glance at what I have said
on voting and debating armies in my “Civil Liberty,” and wonder that Governor
Seymour (New York) did not quote that when, in his Message, he quoted me
on the danger of Executive influence on elections. It is all a mistake to let
armies vote, — an essential mistake; and it is a great mistake in our friends
to try to give the vote to armies because it galls us now and works very hard
against us. Tables are constantly turned in history. Nothing worse and more
ruinous than to get power over opponents for the time being, instead of by
permanent legislation. . . .
SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and
Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 335
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